Policy Corner: March 23, 2018

Congress Sends FY 2018 Omnibus Spending Bill to President to Sign

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Omnibus Bill, which the U.S. Senate agreed to early this morning, to fund federal government for the remainder of 2018 fiscal year ending Sept. 30. Current funding ends at midnight, which necessitates the enactment of a spending bill in order to keep government open. President Trump signed the bill into law today. 

Overall, the legislation provides an additional $80 billion for national defense and increased funding to address the opioid epidemic, for homeland security, to promote school safety and mental health, and to make investments to help rebuild America’s aging infrastructure and grow jobs. Of interest to traumatic brain injury (TBI) advocates, the bill includes a little over $2 million additional funding for the Federal TBI Grant Program administered by the Administration for Community Living (ACL) – the first increase for the program in many years. The total for the program, $11.321 million, would fund both the State Partnership Grant Program and Protection and Advocacy (P&A) TBI Grant Program, although not evenly split. Historically, the majority of the funding has supported the State Partnership Grant Program, Technical Assistance Coordinating Center and ACL Administration with the P&A grant program receiving about one-third of the funding. The ACL National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), which awards grants for the TBI Model Systems program, received an additional $1 million. The spending bill also provides increases for other ACL programs, including a $750,000 increase for the ACL Lifespan Respite Care Program and a $30 million increase for the National Family Caregiver Support program.

The House approved an extra $1 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With regard to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the bill approves funding for the Injury Research Centers ($9 million), which the Administration proposed to be eliminated in the fiscal year 2019 budget, and provides full funding for the nationwide expansion of the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). The bill contains report language clarifying that the existing “Dickey Amendment” language does not prohibit CDC from awarding grants to study gun violence, although no funding was included to carry out firearm violence research. The Injury Center’s TBI program would receive $6.75 million and $2.05 million for the elderly falls prevention program.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would receive a $140 million increase for a total of $400 million for the Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative and an additional $500 million for research into opioid addiction, which would be split between the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In addition, the bill provides for $125 million for TBI research within the Department of Defense (DoD). 

Appropriators to Tackle FY 2019 Spending

With the fiscal year 2018 spending bill out of the way, House/Senate Appropriators will work on appropriations bills for fiscal year 2019, which will begin Oct. 1. The Congressional Brain Injury Task Force submitted Member sign-on letters to House Appropriators calling for increases in the ACL Federal TBI Program and ACL NIDILRR’s TBI Model Systems program; and the Defense and Veterans TBI programs. A similar letter with support from 79 Members, including Congressional Brain Injury Task Force Co-chair Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.), was submitted calling for robust funding for the BRAIN Initiative for fiscal year 2019. The Brain injury Association of America joined other organizations in sending a letter to the House/Senate Appropriators supporting at a minimum $2 million in funding for the CDC’s Injury Center programming and research to prevent older adult falls and $5 million to the ACL to implement and sustain evidence-based falls prevention programs.

Lawmakers to Introduce TBI Act Reauthorization Legislation

Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.) and Congressional Brain Injury Task Force Co-chairs Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) plan to introduce legislation to reauthorize the TBI Act of 1996, as amended in 2014. Although current law authorizes funding through fiscal year 2019, the lawmakers are planning to introduce the legislation to commemorate the retiring of Sen. Hatch and Rep. Rooney. Senator Hatch was an original sponsor of the bill, which authorizes funding to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the Federal TBI state and P&A programs, administered by ACL; the CDC’s Injury Center TBI programs addressing prevention, surveillance, and public education, as well as for NIH research. 

Senate Passes Legislation to Protect Social Security Beneficiaries

The U.S. Senate has passed H.R. 4537, the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act, to increase oversight and protection of the Social Security Administration’s Representative Payee Program. A representative payee is a person who acts as the receiver of Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income for a person who is not fully capable of managing their own benefits. H.R. 4547 specifically authorizes the nation’s Protection and Advocacy (P&A) system to monitor and investigate how representative payees are administering Social Security funds to avoid exploitation, fraud, and injury with regard to beneficiaries.

Representative Introduces Money Follows the Person Bill 

On March 15, Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) introduced H.R. 5306 to reauthorize the Money Follows the Person Demonstration program. It is a companion bill to, S.2227, The EMPOWER Care Act, to extend the Medicaid Money Follows the Person (MFP) Program which assists people with disabilities, including individuals with brain injury, to transition from institutions back to their communities.

White House Announces New CDC Director

The White House has officially announced that Dr. Robert Redfield will serve as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Redfield will take his post on Monday. The CDC Director position does not require Senate confirmation. Dr. Redfield is known as a HIV/AIDS researcher and is a clinical scientist and former Army doctor who co-founded the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He has been leading a massive HIV treatment program and a global program funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. He previously served on former President George W. Bush’s HIV/AIDS advisory panel and in various advisory roles at NIH.

BIAA gratefully acknowledges the Centre for Neuro Skills and Avanir Pharmaceuticals for their support for legislative action.